Jefferson County resident discovered during shift change

Updated 9:34 pm, Saturday, May 11, 2013

A 36-year-old Jefferson County man was found dead from hanging in the Albany County Correctional Facility, the Albany County Sheriff's office reported Saturday.

Demearle Gulledge was discovered at about 6:50 a.m. in his cell during a shift change count, the county sheriff's department said.

Gulledge, of Pamelia, was unresponsive and correction officers immediately performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Medical staff and the Colonie Emergency Medical Services personnel responded to a call and Gulledge was pronounced dead at 7:09 a.m.

An autopsy was conducted and pointed to asphyxia due to hanging, the sheriff's department said.

Gulledge was being boarded for Jefferson County and was imprisoned for second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal mischief.

His mother-in-law, Nancy Fey of Delmar, said he had been depressed but she is perplexed about his apparent suicide. He is the father of three children by two wives, she said, including a three-year-old daughter born to Gabrielle Gulledge, Gulledge's wife of seven years, Fey said.

Gulledge had been held for a year and was to be sentenced soon to a two-year prison term including time served. He had been accused of fighting with four police officers in the Watertown area and had been incarcerated in Jefferson County jail for much of the past year, where he had sustained many injuries from assaults, Fey said. She said the family had complained about his treatment at the hands of jail guards in Jefferson County to authorities.

He was transferred to the Albany County lockup earlier this month, she said, because of overcrowding in Jefferson County.

He had various jobs in the Watertown area and had run a small clothing and jewelry retail outlet, Fey said.